The incident happened at junction four westbound, near Whitburn.

Part of Scotland’s busiest motorway has been closed after a car burst into flames. Emergency crews rushed to the scene on the M8 just before 2pm on Wednesday, April 8.

The road was closed at junction four westbound, near Whitburn. It is unclear if anyone was injured as a result of the blaze.

Drivers faced delays of up to 90 minutes as the fire service worked to extinguish the flames. Traffic Scotland announced at 3.45pm all lanes on the road had been fully reopened but warned motorists to expect further delays of around 30 minutes.

Pictures from the scene show two fire appliances and two police cars at either side of the vehicle. Smoke can be seen billowing out of the mangled wreck as fire officers stand nearby, with traffic building up behind them.

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Another image taken later in the afternoon shows cones on the road blocking off one lane as a recovery vehicle removes the car from the road. A Traffic Scotland spokesperson said: “The M8 is currently closed westbound between junctions 4- 4A due to a vehicle fire.

“Emergency services are at the scene. Delays are expected. Alternative routes are recommended.”

Police Scotland has also been approached for comment.

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Chloe Short kissed a 15-year-old boy she was supposed to be helping. She has now been struck off the professional care worker register

A support worker convicted of having a “sexualised kiss” with a vulnerable 15-year-old boy she was supposed to be helping, has been struck of the professional care worker register.

Chloe Short also engaged in text conversations with the child during which the pair expressed their love for each other, Swansea Crown Court heard when she was sentenced in December 2025. Now she has been stripped of her registration with Social Care Wales [SCW].

Short, who was 28 at the time of her conviction, was not represented and not present for a virtual professional standards hearing about her case on April 8. Make sure you never miss Wales’ biggest updates by getting our daily newsletter.

The SCW fitness to practise panel found all allegations against the former care worker proved and removed her name from the register. Short may not apply to be re-registered for five years and even then would have to convince a committee to do so.

Committee chair Steve Jones said the case was too serious to warrant any sanction other than striking off. She had been unable to work anyway as an interim prohibition order had already been in place.

Short did not engaged in the SCW’s inquiry or process and had not expressed any insight, remorse or remedial work, Mr Jones said. There was nothing to indicate she may not pose a risk to vulnerable people if she was allowed to remain on the register.

The panel found it proved that whilst registered with SCW as a domiciliary care worker Short was convicted at Swansea Crown Court on December 3, 2025 of of intentionally touching a 15 year-old boy sexually and that her fitness to practise with SCW is therefore impaired.

“The offence is so serious there will always be the risk with Miss Short working with vulnerable people,” said Mr Jones.

He added that her actions had brought the entire profession into disrepute. Miss Short’s case was referred to the SCW in August 2024 by her former employer, Touchstone, which had dismissed her, the panel heard.

During her sentencing hearing last year a judge told Short her behaviour had been “very inappropriate” and that she had rejected the trust which had been placed in her by virtue of her job.

Ian Wright, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that Short was working for an organisation which provided support for families and children in need of assistance, and as such was “in a position of considerable trust”.

He said the defendant was assigned to support a vulnerable 15-year-old boy and carried out a series of home visits which led to “communication with him” in a “wholly inappropriate manner”. The court heard that in the messages, the defendant and the child said they loved each other, and Short told the teenager she “missed him every second” and was “obsessed with him”.

The matter came to light when Short’s girlfriend became suspicious about her behaviour and looked through her phone. After finding messages on the device the woman alerted Short’s employers who then contacted the police. An investigation was launched during which a short video recorded on a phone was recovered showing the defendant and the boy kissing.

The court heard that the teenager had not provided an account of what happened between him and the defendant and has “never co-operated” with the prosecution.

Short, of Sycamore Court, Bargoed, who was aged 28 at the time of her conviction, had previously pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a child when she appeared in the dock for sentencing. She has no previous convictions and had no previous matters before her with SCW.

Rose Glanville, for Short, told Swansea Crown Court that the defendant had not followed a career in the support sector to exploit the access it afforded but rather “in a flawed attempt to repair the damage from her childhood”.

With a 20 per cent discount for her guilty pleas Short was sentenced to 10 months in prison suspended for 18 months, and was ordered to complete a rehabilitation course and a mental health treatment requirement. She was told she also had to do 150 hours of unpaid work in the community.

She will be a registered sex offender for the next 10 years and the court also made her subject to a sexual harm prevention order for the same length of time.

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An air ambulance was also called to the crash

Two people were seriously injured after a crash closed a road on the Cambridgeshire border for over 10 hours. Lincolnshire Police were called to a crash just after 6.30am on Tuesday (April 7) on the B1166 Hulls Drove, near Crowland.

One vehicle was involved, which was a red Ford Kuga. Two people were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

An East of England Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We were called just after 7am on Tuesday, April 7, to a road traffic collision on the B1106 near Crowland. We attended the incident jointly with the East Midlands Ambulance Service, with both services dispatching numerous resources including critical care teams.

“These included the East Anglian Air Ambulance and The Air Ambulance Service’ (TAAS). Three patients were taken to hospital, including two with serious injuries.”

The road remained closed until 4.25pm while recovery work took place. A police spokesperson said: “We are appealing for witnesses to the collision or anyone who has any recorded footage that will assist the investigation to get in touch.”

Anyone with information should email the investigating officer on SCIUinvestigators@lincs.police.uk or call 01522 212316.

Barca, meanwhile, made light work of Newcastle United, but they needed home advantage to do so, after a tense 1-1 draw at St James’ Park, where Lamine Yamal’s penalty late on saved them from a first-leg defeat. In the reverse fixture, however, they decimated the Magpies, pulling them apart to emerge 7-2 victors. Stay tuned with all the latest from the Nou Camp this evening with our live blog below.

Future plans for renewable energy are emerging as a key issue in the election for Wales’s parliament, the Senedd, on May 7.

Proposals for new infrastructure, including windfarms and pylon lines, required to meet targets for low carbon energy are facing opposition in many parts of rural Wales, with campaigners suggesting that the issue will influence how some people vote in the election.

With a far greater divide among parties over green issues than in past elections, windfarms and pylons have shot up the political agenda.

The Labour-run Welsh government signed a new deal in March to speed up progress towards its target of 100% of Wales’s electricity consumption being met from renewable sources by 2035. Meeting this target requires a significant expansion of on- and off-shore windfarms, solar parks and tidal energy schemes, prompting an increase in proposals. New power lines are also needed to carry the electricity generated to consumers in cities, with current proposals for new transmission lines across Carmarthenshire and Powys, largely to be carried above ground by steel pylons.

The Conservatives made opposition to new pylon lines a focal point of their 2024 general election campaigns in Carmarthenshire and Powys, with former Welsh secretary Simon Hart featuring anti-pylon symbols on his signs in the Caerfyrddin constituency. This position is reiterated in the party’s 2026 Senedd manifesto, which calls for a “bury cables first” approach as well as a moratorium on industrial wind and solar energy developments.

Reform UK, currently running second in the polls in Wales, is also calling for new onshore wind to be banned and for solar farms to be banned on “productive arable land” and cables to be buried underground where possible.

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For right-wing parties, opposition to windfarms and pylons is consistent with their broader scepticism towards net zero. This issue is challenging for Plaid Cymru, currently leading in the polls and the Liberal Democrats, who generally back action on climate change, but see local opposition to pylons and windfarms in several of their traditionally stronger rural electoral areas in mid and west Wales.

Plaid Cymru has already announced that it would introduce a “strong presumption in favour of undergrounding” electricity cables.

Windfarms have operated in Wales since the 1990s. By 2024, 865 onshore wind power sites produced 3,152 gigawatt-hours of electricity. In 2024 renewable electricity generation was equivalent to 54% of Welsh electricity consumption.

Part of the conflict is because wind turbines are prohibited in Wales’s national parks, clustering projects in other parts of rural Wales.

Protesters cite a perceived over-concentration of wind turbines in areas such as Radnorshire.

Expanding capacity for renewable energy involves not only new windfarms (and solar farms and tidal power), but also new transmission lines to the carry the electricity produced in rural Wales to cities. Several lines are proposed, including the Tywi Teifi and Towy Usk networks in Carmarthenshire and south Powys, mostly carried by pylons up to 30 metres high.

As with windfarms, new pylon lines are controversial for their impact on the landscape and disruption during construction. Campaign groups such as community action body CaruTeifi and Re-THINK have plastered affected districts with signs opposing pylons, lobbied politicians, including a protest at the Senedd in February, calling for the transmission lines to be put underground.

Undergrounding power lines has also been backed by organisations including the Campaign to Protect Rural Wales and the Farmers’ Union of Wales increasing pressure on politicians.

What is not yet clear is whether voters will prioritise local concerns around windfarms and pylons or worries over climate change. A survey by the Countryside Alliance in 2025 suggested that 93% of respondents in Wales opposed pylon construction in their area. But a YouGov poll for Friends of the Earth in March found that 60% of Welsh voters were worried about climate change and 65% had a positive view of onshore wind.

Challenges for power line planning

Current Welsh government planning guidance states that “where possible” new power lines “should be laid underground”. However, it also allows that “that a balanced view must be taken against costs which could render otherwise acceptable projects unviable”. Plaid Cymru plans to remove this caveat. Reform UK pledges to maintain the current guidance.

In practice, not putting transmission lines underground has been justified on grounds of access, construction disruption, and above all cost. The Independent Advisory Group on Future Electricity Grid for Wales quotes evidence that the cost is 2.2 – 2.8 times greater for underground 132Kv cables installed by digging open trenches, but notes that differentials vary by voltage and technique.

Plaid Cymru has not been clear how the additional costs would be met. Increased project costs are typically passed on to billpayers, which can be a deterrent for companies to underground cables, especially as they have a legal obligation to deliver value for money to consumers. However, any effect on the price of electricity may become more acceptable if rising oil and gas prices lead to renewable sources being considered more cost effective by the public.

Impact on climate goals

There are concerns that increasing costs or cancelling or delaying projects will affect Wales’s ability to take necessary action on climate change. Labour has criticised Plaid Cymru for its policy changes and for rowing back on a pledge to make Wales’s carbon emissions net zero by 2035. Labour’s manifesto reaffirms its targets, outlines policies to make approval easier for renewable energy projects, and does not mention pylons.

The Green party also sees renewable energy as an issue that differentiates it from Plaid Cymru. The Welsh Green leader Anthony Slaughter told journalist Will Hayward that Plaid had “tied themselves in knots over the discussion about infrastructure. This is infrastructure that’s needed to deliver the renewable energy revolution that Wales needs, and that is a key area.”

The Greens’ manifesto states that: “Renewable energy must be developed responsibly. Infrastructure such as pylons and grid upgrades will be carefully planned to avoid damage to sensitive ecosystems and protected landscapes”.

The difference between the Greens and Plaid on this issue may become more significant if the two parties need to form a coalition after the election, as some commentators predict.